Chapter Text
°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °
Sonic’s heart pounded as he lunged forward. “Neathir!” he shouted, driving his elbow into Eclipse’s chest with all his strength. The impact sent the darkling staggering backward, just enough for Sonic to slice through the remainder of the ropes binding his quills. With his body finally free, Sonic spun around, quills flaring, and began backing away, eyes darting across the room for an escape route.
But the moment he moved, a dozen hands shot toward him, reaching with predatory precision. Sonic’s stomach lurched as he darted left, then right, twisting and weaving through the advancing crowd, each step narrowly avoiding grasping fingers. His muscles screamed as he pushed off walls, vaulted over chairs, and swung his arms, desperate to keep his pursuers at bay.
A heavy weight slammed into his side, sending him sprawling into a marble column. He scrambled to his feet, quills raised defensively, heart hammering in his chest. Just as he thought he might break through the crowd, a firm hand shot out from behind, yanking him backward.
“No!” Sonic twisted and thrashed, claws scraping marble he grasped, but the grip was iron. His legs kicked, and he wrenched against it with everything he had, but the pair of strong arms held him fast, pulling him into the heat of Eclipse’s shadow. Panic surged through him as he realized the distance he had gained was gone in an instant. The room, once full of potential escape routes, now felt like a cage, every glinting eye and outstretched hand closing in.
Sonic’s legs were suddenly swept out from under him, and he crashed hard against the marble floor. Pain shot up his spine as he struggled to push himself up, but before he could fully react, pressure kept him from escaping. Eclipse straddled him, pinning him with a cruel precision, his hands closing around Sonic’s throat.
“You horrid little bitch,” Eclipse hissed, his golden eyes glinting with malice. “Always making things difficult. Fuck it… you’re better off dead.”
“No… Sto-” Sonic choked, clawing desperately at the hands constricting his windpipe, his quills bristling in panic.
“Enough.”
A sudden, overwhelming wave of dominant pheromones swept through the air, rich and suffocating, and Sonic felt the pressure around his throat vanish as Eclipse was violently shoved off him. He gasped, coughing, as his lungs fought to refill.
In the corner of his blurred vision, Black Doom loomed, a towering presence radiating authority and power. The heavy slam of Eclipse hitting the marble and a low groan of frustration echoed through the hall. Sonic’s ears twitched as his panic collided with awe and disbelief. A massive shadow fell over him, and he blinked, coming face-to-face with the dark Alpha.
“N-no… leave me alone,” he wheezed, scrambling to roll away, but his legs shook beneath him.
Black Doom’s hands shot under Sonic’s arms, lifting him effortlessly as though he weighed nothing. The sheer strength holding him steady was intimidating, yet oddly protective. “Is that any way to treat your father-in-law?” Doom’s voice was calm, measured, carrying the weight of both warning and dominance.
“Y-you’re not my… father-in-law!” Sonic huffed, knees buckling slightly as he struggled to stay upright.
Eclipse, bloodied and furious, rose swiftly from the cracked marble where he had slammed into it. His voice was a hiss, thick with rage and disbelief. “I can’t kill him… I can’t fuck him?! You choose a damn Omega over your own son?!” He wiped the blood from his lips, eyes darting between Sonic and Doom, pure fury and humiliation etched into every line of his face.
“You are nothing but a disappointment!”
Black Doom’s voice cracked through the grand hall like a thunderclap, vibrating in the marble and glass. The crowd froze. The silence that followed was suffocating, heavy with the weight of his fury. Then, slowly, the murmurs began. Nervous whispers slithered through the room like a cold draft, their eyes flicking between father and son. A few pitied glances shifted toward Eclipse, but most dared not look at all.
Eclipse’s jaw clenched so tightly it looked like his teeth might shatter. The golden light in his eyes flared, feral and wild. “A disappointment? A fucking disappointment?!” His voice cracked, raw with disbelief and rage. He took a step forward, trembling with barely contained fury. “I’m the city’s golden boy! The head of this entire operation! We’re drowning in wealth, in power, in Omegas!” He gestured sharply to the crowd, to the opulent hall, to Sonic trembling behind Doom. “You have everything! So why, why the hell do you care about one stupid fucking Omega when you have thousands?!”
He turned on Sonic like a blade, his voice a snarl. “Is that piece of trash worth more than me? Still?” Spittle flew as he shouted, his breath coming fast, his fists shaking at his sides. The hatred in his gaze burned like acid, his chest heaving with every word.
Black Doom didn’t so much as flinch. His expression was carved from stone, his crimson eyes burning with quiet, absolute authority. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, but carried the full force of a storm. “You use money as a crutch,” he said. “You confuse control with chaos. You think power is something to hoard, when you’ve never learned how to command it.”
He took a slow, deliberate step forward, and the crowd instinctively parted, as though gravity itself obeyed him. “He,” Doom continued, motioning toward Sonic with one hand, “can give me something you cannot. Something that cannot be bought, built, or stolen. Your grasping, your desperate reach for dominance, it’s all noise, Eclipse. You rely on spectacle to be seen, while I need only will for the world to obey.”
Eclipse’s nostrils flared. “You named me heir!” He spat, voice shaking with barely suppressed desperation. “I earned everything I have, every contract, every ounce of respect! I have power!”
Doom’s lip curled. “And I can take it away just as easily.”
The room felt colder at that moment. A collective shiver rippled through the onlookers as the words hung in the air like a blade suspended over Eclipse’s neck. The air thrummed with tension, with the raw, electric promise of violence.
Eclipse’s face twisted, humiliation and rage warring behind his eyes. His hands balled into fists, the tendons standing out white against his skin. Doom stared him down, unmoving, his aura swallowing the hall whole, domineering, inescapable. Every Omega in the room trembled. Every Alpha looked away.
Eclipse’s composure shattered. His chest heaved as he glared at Doom, pupils flaring gold with fury. “You think you can humiliate me in front of everyone?” He snarled, voice cracking with rage. With a roar, he lunged forward, fists aimed at Doom’s face, a blur of raw, desperate power.
The room froze. Gasps echoed as gold and crimson collided in a heartbeat. For a split second, it seemed as though Eclipse might land a strike, his anger fueling terrifying speed.
But Doom was ready. Calm, controlled, and impossibly precise, he sidestepped with fluid grace, catching Eclipse’s wrist mid-swing. With a sharp twist, he sent the darkling sprawling to the marble floor. Eclipse’s growl turned into a frustrated hiss as Doom’s other hand shot out, gripping his jaw and lifting him effortlessly.
“You are reckless,” Doom said, voice low, deadly. “Blind fury will never overcome control.” He slammed Eclipse down again, the impact reverberating through the hall.
The hall went utterly still; even the air seemed to tighten. Glasses rattled on tables as if echoing the tension. Black Doom’s gaze swept over Eclipse with disdain. “You disgust me,” he growled, his voice reverberating like a storm through the room. Without another word, he released the darkling, his crimson eyes snapping to Sonic.
His massive hand closed around the hedgehog’s wrist with crushing strength, yanking him upright and positioning him directly between himself and Eclipse, a shield and a threat in one. “Genetics,” Doom said, voice low and dangerous, “really are a spectacular thing. Shadow, defiant as ever, was perfect in every way,” he gestured to Sonic, “born of a similar prime Omega, gifted in every sense. Therefore an heir born of similar caliber would be all the more gifted.”
Sonic twisted and pulled at Doom’s grip, trying desperately to escape, but the Alpha’s hand was iron. Panic surged through him, his quills bristling as his heart pounded.
“You said he was just a womb,” Eclipse spat, blood at the corner of his mouth, his words dripping venom.
“He is right,” Sonic said, his voice calm and terrifying in its certainty. “What did you call me before? ‘Knot warmer’ or something?” Sonic’s hiss of anger mingled with fear as he clawed at Doom’s hand, trying to wrench it free.
Black Doom’s chuckle started low, almost a growl, before building into a cold, crescendoing laugh that filled the room, drawing horrified gasps from the crowd. He moved smoothly to his belt and drew a gun, the metal glinting under the chandeliers. The crowd froze, eyes wide, as Eclipse and Sonic’s own movements stalled in shock.
“We would have been family,” Doom said, voice silky and lethal, “if you had still been pregnant. Perhaps I’ve been approaching this all wrong. Son, shall I show you what you truly mean to me?”
Eclipse’s eyes darted nervously between the gun and his father, unease flickering across his sharp features. “Father, I…”
Doom didn’t allow him to finish. With deliberate force, he pressed the gun into Sonic’s trembling hands. “Kill him,” he commanded, his tone brooking no argument.
Sonic froze, jaw slack, staring at the weapon as his body instinctively recoiled. “WHAT?!” he stammered, stumbling back. He tried to drop the gun, but Doom’s grip on his wrist was unyielding. “I- what… I can’t…”
“What?! Him?” Eclipse’s voice was sharp, disbelief and fury entwined. “Father, you must be joking!”
“I have never once harmed you,” Doom said, voice hard as obsidian, “and yet this Beta has given you nothing but grief. He took your child, my heir. Kill him.” He pushed the gun further into Sonic’s hands, pressing both the weight and the expectation into the trembling Omega.
“I am not a murderer,” Sonic whispered, voice barely audible, his limbs shaking. He attempted again to give the weapon back, but Doom’s hold was absolute. The hall held its breath, the tension so thick it felt as though it could choke them all.
Black Doom’s hands clamped down on Sonic’s shoulders, heavy and unyielding, his long fingers curling like iron around soft flesh. The touch sent a jolt through Sonic’s body, his instincts screaming danger, but Doom’s voice slipped through the air like poison silk.
“Kill him,” Doom murmured, his tone smooth and commanding, thrumming with a dark power that made the air itself vibrate. His eyes glowed with an unnatural crimson light that seemed to pulse in rhythm with Sonic’s heartbeat. “Do it, and I’ll give you everything, DoomCorp, the city, the freedom you’ve been denied.”
Sonic froze, his throat tightening as he stared at the gun trembling in his hands. “W-what?!” he stammered, voice cracking. “T-That… that makes no sense!” His pulse pounded in his ears as he looked toward Eclipse, who had barely pulled himself to his feet, one arm clutching his ribs, blood staining his lip. The look of disbelief in Eclipse’s eyes mirrored Sonic’s own fear.
Eclipse’s voice broke the tension, sharp and furious. “What? You would just give it to him? To a worthless Omega?” His tone twisted with rage and disbelief as he staggered forward, glaring at his father. “You have to be joking, Father, you’re mad!”
Doom didn’t even glance at him. His gaze stayed locked on Sonic, and his thumbs pressed gently into the base of the Omega’s neck. His voice dropped, low and resonant, vibrating in Sonic’s bones. “You’ve been stepped on your whole life, haven’t you?” he whispered. “Ignored. Used. Betrayed. He took your child from you. He robbed you of a happy life as a parent.”
Sonic’s hands twitched. His mind started to fog over, the words weaving into him like threads, wrapping around his thoughts. The weight of the gun in his hands suddenly felt right. The anger buried deep under fear began to stir. He could feel Doom’s breath near his ear, the deep timbre of his voice sinking into his skull.
“You deserve better,” Doom coaxed, his tone dangerous all at once. “You could rule beside me. The most powerful Omega in the world. No more fear. No more running. Just power… freedom… respect.” His grip tightened on Sonic’s shoulders, nails digging in. “All you have to do is end him. End the pain. End what’s holding you back.”
Sonic’s pupils dilated. The sound around him dulled, fading to a distant echo. He could barely hear the crowd; only Doom’s voice, thick and heavy in his mind, repeating like a pulse. End him. Take your freedom. End him.
Eclipse noticed the shift immediately, the glassy look in Sonic’s eyes, the way his body tensed under the Alpha’s control. “No,” he breathed, his voice breaking. “No, don’t you dare, Father, stop it!”
He lunged forward, but Doom simply extended one hand, palm out, freezing him mid-stride with an invisible wave of dominance so powerful it knocked the air from his lungs. The crowd gasped as Eclipse hit his knees, teeth clenched, his body trembling under the weight of Doom’s control.
Doom’s gaze never left Sonic’s face. “Look at him,” he murmured. “Weak. Angry. Jealous. He would have destroyed you eventually, just as he destroyed your peace.” His voice grew softer, hypnotic. “You could fix everything with one squeeze of the trigger. Raise the gun.” He commanded.
Sonic’s breath came in shallow bursts. His hands shook violently, the gun slowly rising. He could feel his heartbeat in his fingertips, the metallic scent of the weapon sharp in his nose. His mind screamed no, but the command echoed louder. Yes.
“Stop it!” Eclipse shouted, straining against the invisible weight. “You think you can control a wild reckless Omega?”
“Everything is mine to control,” Doom growled, voice cold and final. His hands dug into Sonic’s shoulders, forcing him to raise the gun fully. “Now… show me your true nature.”
Sonic’s finger brushed the trigger. His body trembled violently, his breath coming in panicked gasps as his vision blurred between Doom’s glowing eyes and Eclipse’s desperate face. The world swam with heat and static, his instincts clashing with the hypnotic pull in his mind.
And then, just for a moment, Sonic’s own voice broke through the fog. “No.”
His quills flared with sudden energy, slicing Doom’s hands from his shoulders as he stumbled forward, gasping for air, the spell shattered. The gun clattered to the marble floor with a deafening clang, echoing through the silent hall.
Black Doom’s eyes narrowed, red light flickering dangerously. “So… the little Omega has a spine after all.”
Sonic backed away, chest heaving, eyes wild but clear now. “I am not and will never be a murderer,” he spat, voice shaking but defiant.
Doom smiled darkly. “I gave you the option to obey willingly.”
°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °
Shadow’s claws dug into the metal restraints, bending the reinforced steel with a sharp screech as his body began to tremble violently. His vision wavered in red, his pulse hammering in his ears. He could feel it happening, his control slipping away, the transformation creeping further. His quills writhed, stretching into long, inky tendrils that twitched with a life of their own. His wings shuddered, splitting and shifting into slick, black appendages that coiled restlessly behind him.
He was changing, morphing into the deadliest version of himself that he kept locked away.
“W-where… is Doom keeping him?” Shadow’s voice was low and broken, a growl caught between hedgehog and monster. He struggled to keep his fangs from showing, to sound more in control than he felt. “I shall spare your life.”
Dr. Starline barely looked up from his clipboard, the scratch of his pen the only sound between them. His eyes flicked over the monitors beside the hybrid, watching the lines spike as Shadow’s body continued to mutate. “Fascinating…” he murmured, utterly unconcerned. “Your physiology surpasses even your father’s expectations. The reaction rate to emotional stress is remarkable.”
“I’m not asking again.” Shadow’s voice rumbled through the room, low and warning. His eyes burned crimson, the air seeming to thicken with the force of his rage.
Starline still didn’t look up. “You should be careful,” he said coolly. “Too much strain and you’ll lose all rational thought. Then where will your precious Omega be?”
One of his tentacles smashed the table adjacent to the bed. A shard of glass nicked Starline’s cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. His pen finally stilled.
“You try my patience,” Shadow hissed. His tentacles twitched restlessly behind him, dark and dripping with malicious intent. “Tell. Me.”
Starline’s throat tightened, literally. He gasped, eyes widening as one of the Alpha’s tendrils wrapped around his neck, constricting just enough to cut off air. The clipboard fell from his hand, papers scattering across the tile.
“The… opera house,” Starline rasped, coughing between each word. “He’s being held… at the opera house. There’s… an Omega auction… tonight.” His hands clawed weakly at the tendril choking him, his movements growing slower as his vision blurred.
Shadow’s glare hardened. He released him at once, and Starline collapsed to the floor, wheezing and clutching his bruised throat. The Alpha’s own breath came rough and uneven, muscles flexing beneath his jacket as he fought to steady himself.
His voice was low, guttural, each word forced through gritted teeth. “How about this… you’re going to do me a favor.” He took a step forward, his boots heavy against the concrete. “And in return… I won’t hunt you down and kill you.”
Starline coughed, his breath rattling. “What… do you want?” he hissed out, still struggling to breathe.
“Give me the formula for the antidote I desire.”
His Alpha command came out as a growl, deep and commanding, reverberating around the room as if they were not just merely spoken but echoed.
°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °
Eclipse watched his father’s slow, deliberate pursuit of the trembling Omega and something inside him snapped.
Straightening, he spat blood onto the marble floor, the copper taste mixing with bile as rage burned through him. The crowd’s eyes were still on him, Alphas looking smug, Omegas staring with pity and he hated every single one of them. Their whispers crawled under his skin like insects. Their judgment. Their hierarchy. Their suffocating obedience to titles and scent and rank.
He was done with it.
“Pathetic,” he snarled under his breath, shoving past a cluster of body guards who recoiled from the feral gleam in his eyes. He stalked through the ornate hall, every step echoing with fury until he burst through the doors into the back alley.
The night air hit him like a slap, cold, sharp, too clean compared to the poison roiling inside him. He slammed his fist into the wall, stone cracking under the impact, knuckles splitting. The pain barely registered.
His father had taken the Omega’s side. Again. Over him.
He’d begged for years to be seen as an heir, as more than a failure, to prove that he could lead DoomCorp, that he could be worth something. His father had promised him a trial. A lie. It had all been a lie.
Eclipse’s breath came in harsh gasps as he pressed a bloodied hand against the wall. His reflection stared back at him in a shattered pane of glass, wild eyes, trembling jaw, a man on the verge of breaking.
He laughed once, bitter and breathless. “Was I ever anything but your joke?”
The laughter dissolved into a growl, and then into silence.
He hated his father for making him feel insignificant.
He hated the Omega for stealing his father’s attention.
He hated himself most of all, for still wanting either of his approval.
When he finally lifted his head, the fire in his eyes had hardened into something else resolve, cold and razor-sharp.
Eclipse barely had time to collect his thoughts when a deep voice cut through the alley’s silence.
“Running off already?”
The sound froze him. His ears twitched toward the shadowed end of the alley where the glow of streetlamps didn’t quite reach. A figure stood there, tall, steady, wings half-furled behind him. Even in the dim light, the red stripes and burning crimson eyes were unmistakable.
Shadow.
Eclipse’s blood ran cold, then hot. “You’ve got some nerve showing your face here,” he hissed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Come to finish what father started?”
Shadow stepped forward, every movement controlled, predatory. “I’m nothing like him.” His voice was low, dangerous. “But if you laid another hand on Sonic…”
Eclipse barked a humorless laugh. “Oh, you mean your precious little Omega? Father should just fuck him if he wants a new heir so god damn bad.”
The words were meant to wound and they did. Shadow’s expression barely shifted, but his wings flexed, his claws curling.
“Careful,” Shadow warned, his tone like the edge of a blade. “You’re talking yourself into an early grave.”
“Maybe I’m just done living in your… heh… Shadow,” Eclipse snarled, his voice cracking with fury. He lunged.
Their collision was brutal, a flash of movement, a crack as Eclipse’s first punch met Shadow’s block. The force sent a shockwave through the narrow alley. Dust rained down from the walls.
Shadow countered, a knee driving hard into Eclipse’s gut. The darkling staggered but recovered fast, grabbing Shadow by the chest fur and slamming him into the wall with enough force to crack the brick.
“You think you’re better than me!” Eclipse roared, eyes burning. “You’ve always had everything handed to you, power, respect, love! And I-”
Shadow’s head snapped forward, slamming into Eclipse’s. “You earn those things,” he growled through gritted teeth.
Eclipse stumbled back, dizzy, blood running down his face. “Earn?” He spat. “You were born perfect?!”
He swung again, wild this time, a backhand filled with desperation and hate. Shadow caught his wrist mid-swing, twisting it until Eclipse dropped to a knee. The crack of bone echoed in the alley.
“This ends now,” Shadow said, voice deep, steady, final.
Eclipse, panting, laughed weakly through the pain. “You think killing me fixes anything?” His head tilted up, a smirk twitching on his bloodied face. “You’re still his favorite. You’ll always be his monster.”
For a moment, Shadow’s control wavered, just a flicker, but it was enough for Eclipse to tear free, shoving him backward.
The two circled each other in the flickering lamplight, blood and rain mixing on the ground beneath them.
“You condemn me for my birth the same way father does yours,” Shadow hissed, crimson eyes narrowing.
He lunged again, faster, stronger, and the alley erupted into chaos.
Eclipse lunged again, teeth bared, claws flashing. But this time Shadow didn’t move to block, he stepped in. The motion was clean, efficient, merciless.
A hard elbow drove straight into Eclipse’s ribs, followed by a brutal uppercut that sent the darkling reeling. He hit the wall, hard, with a visceral smack.
“You can’t beat me,” Shadow said, his tone almost calm too calm. “You never could.”
“I never… will…” Eclipse wheezed, dragging himself upright, holding his arm. “But at least I still feel something.”
He swung one last time, a desperate, clumsy arc aimed for Shadow’s throat. Shadow sidestepped, caught his wrist midair, and drove his knee up into Eclipse’s chest. The air rushed out of the darkling’s lungs in a strangled gasp.
Shadow didn’t stop. His movements were a blur, a storm of fury and anguish wrapped in flesh. Each strike landed with surgical precision, years of resentment and betrayal given form. A punch to the gut, a blow to the jaw, a sharp twist and then, with one final surge of motion, his claws drove straight through Eclipse’s chest.
The impact stole the air from both of them.
Eclipse gasped, the sound wet and broken. For a second, he didn’t fall, he just stared, stunned, as if his mind refused to believe what his body already knew. Then his knees buckled, and he collapsed against Shadow’s chest.
Blood spilled hot between them, staining Shadow’s gloves and soaking into his fur.
Shadow’s breath hitched, realization dawning too late, but before he could pull away, Eclipse’s shaking hands shot up, clutching at his wrists.
And then, with a ragged, furious cry, Eclipse forced Shadow’s claws in deeper.
Shadow’s eyes went wide. “Eclipse?!”
The darkling’s teeth bared in a bloodied grin, crimson running down his chin as he looked up at him, defiant even in death’s shadow. “Don’t stop now… isn’t this what you wanted?” His voice cracked into a choking laugh. “You finally beat me, big brother.”
Shadow froze.
Eclipse only pushed harder, his breath hitching with pain, until his forehead pressed weakly against Shadow’s shoulder. “I was nothing…” he whispered.
Shadow’s throat tightened. His voice came out low, rough, breaking against the weight of the moment. “You were my brother…”
For a heartbeat, just one, everything went still. The noise. The world. It was just the two of them, standing in the wreckage of everything they’d been.
Eclipse’s breathing hitched. His expression softened, the fury and defiance gone, replaced by something haunting, regret. “Kill our father…”
Then his hands fell away, limp.
The world narrowed to the sound of the rain soft at first, then heavier, drowning the crimson that spread across the alley floor. Shadow pulled his claws free in a daze, watching the blood drip from his fingers, thick and dark against the stone.
Eclipse’s body slumped to the ground, his eyes half-open, a faint smile still ghosting his lips.
Shadow stumbled back, chest heaving, the sound that tore from his throat somewhere between a snarl and a sob. “Things could have been different...”
But the words fell apart before they could reach him.
Because the truth was, Eclipse had chosen this. And now Shadow had to live with it.
°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °